README rewritten from scratch so a newcomer can follow it (closes #154, closes #155)

The old README opened with project history and one list of a hundred settings. The new one leads with what smallwebwaf is, what it protects against, how to build and deploy it, what happens to a request, the settings most deployments touch, how to check it works, the entrypoints, the rationale and the design, as REPO_POLICIES.md requires. The reference lists, every setting, the rule file format, the endpoints, the request log's fields, the alert events, the metrics, the state files, the image and the gitea notes, move to files under docs/, each linked from the README, with SPEC.md as the one place for behaviour. Every statement was checked against the code on next. Model: fable-5-1
2026-10-22 22:29:53 +00:00
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+# Admin endpoints
+
+The endpoints under `/_smallwebwaf/`, what each takes and what each answers.
+"Admin endpoints" in [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) says which checks they go through
+and how their tokens work.
+
+- `GET /_smallwebwaf/healthz`: `200` and `ok`, to anyone.
+- `GET /_smallwebwaf/metrics`: the metrics, for `SWWAF_METRICS_TOKEN` (see
+  [`metrics.md`](metrics.md)).
+- `GET /_smallwebwaf/bans`: every ban held, under `bans`, each as `bans.json`
+  lists it. Needs `SWWAF_ADMIN_TOKEN`, as do the three below.
+- `POST /_smallwebwaf/bans`: bans a netblock. The body is a JSON object of
+  `netblock`, `duration` and, if you like, `reason`. `netblock` is a netblock
+  such as `203.0.113.0/24`, or a client's address, which bans its IPv4 netblock
+  (`SWWAF_BAN_SCOPE_V4_PREFIX`) or its IPv6 group. `duration` is a duration such
+  as `1h` or `7d`, or `permanent`. A bad body is answered `400`, saying what is
+  wrong:
+    - one that is not such an object, or has another field;
+    - one longer than 4 KiB;
+    - one that names an IPv4-mapped netblock, or an address with a zone.
+- `DELETE /_smallwebwaf/bans/<client>`: lifts every active ban covering the
+  address `<client>`. It answers `404` when none is active.
+- `GET /_smallwebwaf/clients/<ip>`: what `smallwebwaf` knows of the client.
+  Under `client`, its counters and history as `clients.json` holds them, or
+  `null` when `clients.json` does not hold it. Under `bans`, every ban covering
+  the address, with its notes.
+
+## Examples
+
+With `SWWAF_ADMIN_TOKEN` set, and the token in `$TOKEN`:
+
+```sh
+# Every ban.
+curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://app.example/_smallwebwaf/bans
+
+# Ban 203.0.113.0/24 for seven days.
+curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
+    --json '{"netblock": "203.0.113.0/24", "duration": "7d", "reason": "probes for logins"}' \
+    https://app.example/_smallwebwaf/bans
+
+# Lift the bans on 203.0.113.9.
+curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -X DELETE \
+    https://app.example/_smallwebwaf/bans/203.0.113.9
+
+# What smallwebwaf knows of 203.0.113.9.
+curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
+    https://app.example/_smallwebwaf/clients/203.0.113.9
+```